Bluebird Pidion BM180 announced

The Pidion BM180 is a really exciting announcement for us because it’s a device that will not only offer multiple options against the Motorola and Honeywell solutions, but it’s also one that will usher in the new era for Windows Mobile, namely Windows Embedded 8 Handheld.

So just what is the new BM180 device?

Well it comes in 2 OS flavours for starters with an Android v4.2 at launch and WE8H coming when it’s ready! However the device also has a 5″ screen, a bang up to date and almost smartphone level spec as well as a whole bunch of optional Point of Sale interfaces like Mag strip reader, RFID/NFC card reader and extra SAM slot for secure transaction processing. It also has a built in 1D laser or 2D barcode scanner, IP67 and a 1.2M drop spec and is PTT and VoWWAN/VoWLAN (Voice over lan) ready so it’s a device that’s built for service, it is aimed at the retail and supply chain markets and if it lives up to it’s spec it’ll be a big competitor for any other rugged device in this sector.

Add to this a 4500mAh battery is going ot be best in class, a decent backup battery will allow for in-field hot-swapping without interrupting work or creating reboots and it also has a rugged connector as well as the std MIcro-USB we’re seeing on this level of device.

Price has yet to be announced. We’ve truly not heard anything just yet but i’m sure it’ll be extremely competitive if the recently released HM45 is anything to go by.

Existing BM170 users

The BM180 is being touted as the natural successor in the popular “BM” series but is not currently aiming to take over from the BM170. In fact anything not running the familiar WM operating system will be a pain to port form and as such so far the BM170 has had no end of life notices. However for those looking for a new device, especially in Android form, the BM180 or the BP30 (Announced in a few days from now) will be the one to go for.

Pidion has introduced 3 new Smartphone-like devices this year and all 3 give users a real choice over the device they take. I’ll blog about that real soon to clear anything up.

About The Author

Dave's one of the founders of Raptor, his rants are memorable, his thoughts are stimulating and his heart is set on helping, entertaining and making things like mobile, Android, ruggedness, 3D printing and IOT simple.